Vivienne
by dusk-dreamer-midnight-thief
Summary: Aurora Sinistra and Severus Snape during the sixth and seventh years. I hate summaries.
1. You and the Rest of the Dunderheads

She did not look back on that year... those two years... with much warmth.

Fitting, really, as the ominous clouds that gathered continually around the castle appeared to reflect what was happening in her mind, in Aurora's most inner soul. So much so that she had felt it had shattered her soul a bit, and from that she would never fully recover.

1997 was the year everything changed, everything became tainted just that little bit more, where everything she had held together so well and so dear had fallen away from her, all the while ironically also being a year of rebirth - quite literally.

The minute Aurora had learned that he had been made the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, was the exact same minute that the clouds had arisen in the sky, she was almost positive of it.

 _Why now?_ She had asked herself when she had received a visit from him late one night in August. They were not living together outside of Hogwarts - it was phenomenally difficult for them to achieve such an act that most long term couples took for granted. Severus had now fully immersed himself in the life of a double agent... triple, quadruple agent... working for both the Order of the Phoenix and Voldemort's band of followers with such emotional and physical effort that he used to come back to her vomiting and shaking in her arms most days... but an effort that, to the rest of the world, seemed seamlessly effortless. For that was the way he had to make it look, of course.

But Aurora knew different. For she had seen him for him when no else did. Well... perhaps the old, white batty wizard he was slave to... but the old, white batty wizard was never there to absorb Severus's broken pieces day to day, hour by hour, the gruelling and yet beautiful kind of every day love that Dumbledore could not experience.

They become completely and utterly broken together that year.

"Why _now_?" she had asked Severus when he had first broken the news that a change in classrooms was in order.

"Why after all this time, after all your applications, has Dumbledore allowed this now of all years? When you're surely busy enough with everything else going on!"

And he had not said anything of the truth then - the first bought of deceit and lies he had showered her with. He merely held her tighter to his body as they lay together, covered in the bedsheets in the room of the house which belonged to her eldest brother. He had held her tighter, Aurora had told herself, had to tell herself, because of the guilt that had been coursing through his veins at the time she was sure of it... there had to be some slither of regret there, _somewhere_ , he had loved her once, if only once... she was sure of it...

"I don't know," he answered and lied eventually, and she had felt a breath catch somewhere in the chest on which she was resting her forrest of dreadlocks. She closed her eyes, oblivious to his mind, as five of his long, slender fingers journeyed their way through her hair, setting the neurons up and down her spine alight with icy pleasure. "I suppose with Horace returning, the Headmaster thinks it would be best for him to resume his old position."

"It's position that belonged to _you_!" Aurora said defiantly, fighting some kind of battle she didn't even know existed. "Slughorn left that job. At least he does have experience as a teacher, unlike the rest of those dolts the old man's dug up to teach Defence, he'd be a somewhat competent professor for a change!"

"I've taught Potions for fourteen _years,_ Borealis. A change in scenery is actually most welcomed -"

"You don't think it's odd that it's been fourteen years of you trying to - and then he just - he just gives it away -"

"You know very well that Slughorn - "

"I don't give a fuck about Slughorn! I didn't at school and I still don't now!" she whipped all of her hair away from him and sat bolt upright in the bed, viciously straddling his midsection and holding him there in what felt like a vice-grip between her thighs. She shoved him heavily. "I give a fuck about _you_ , you idiot. Have you not noticed a slightly peculiar pattern amongst all the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors... well, _so-called_ professors...?"

Instead of arguing back, or attempting to wriggle free (why would he, really?), she caught sight of him smiling lightly in the moonlight that had snuck through the cracks between wall and curtain.

"I don't know whether to be offended or touched," Severus whispered softly, one of his hands had attempted to rub the top of her thigh but Aurora had swatted it away immediately. "You're concerned about me leaving Hogwarts, but I fear you think me to as inept a dunderhead as Lockhart was. No... on second thought I _have_ decided to be offended by that."

"Shut-up," Sinistra bit churlishly, turning her back to him like the petulant child she was. She folded her arms over the edges of her knees and glared into the darkness, waiting to see how long it would take him to move.

To be fair, it was not very long, and feeling the touch of his fingers on her back made Aurora's muscles soften a little... but his words were, as always, not particularly comforting. Not in the normal, mollycoddling sense anyway.

"I always feel rather pre-pubescent whenever I visit you at Mithras's house. As if I should be scaling the outside wall when I leave in order to avoid a lecture from him. It is not a pleasant experience."

Aurora scoffed. "Deal with it, Princess. You have Pettigrew to snuggle up to at my _previous_ residence. Feels wonderful to be kicked out of my summer home for the human equivalent of an infected pimple -"

"You know I had no choice."

She hadn't expected him to take the jibe so seriously, hadn't expected it so much that the clouds in her mind had darkened and rumbled louder as the realisation of what he meant dawned on the both of them.

"That's what I'm afraid of..." Aurora whispered ominously through one stray dreadlock as she looked back at him, his form had taken a clearer, sharper shape as her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness.

The form leant forward slightly and she allowed herself to be drawn back into the bed as she groaned from the weight of her thoughts. If only she had known back then... if only she had known her thoughts were the mere tip of the iceberg... how he had kept himself together that night, knowing what was about to come, she would never know...

He must've never loved her in the first place.

But for the meantime, before she had come to realise this, Aurora merely allowed the forceful breath of a sigh to wash itself across his sallow, beautifully sickly skin as she nestled into his neck. She felt an artery underneath her ear pulsing callously.

"Thank Great Illu I was the most perfect, most talented Occlumency student you ever had, huh? Kept our 'little thing' secret from the entire wizarding world for six years, have we not?" she quipped as she twirled the tip of her silver tongue around the piece of his skin where neck met collarbone, she felt a slight sigh emanate from his lips and his chest and the skin began to expand as Severus extended his neck, allowing her further play space.

"Somewhat necessary when I... want you to be safe... and, ah, well..." Severus attempted to reply with seemingly great difficulty - he seemed to have trouble finding words: a rarity, usually, but not when Professor Sinistra's (when _Her_ ) tongue was involved. "Considering my only... my only other Occlumency student was Potter I assure you it's no big accomp..."

He gave a very sharp intake of breath through yellowed clenched teeth as the caressing tongue withdrew to welcome a sharp, icy nip from Her own incisors. His entire body tensed, one leg repeatedly rubbed upward and downward upon the mattress as if not knowing what to do with itself as Her incessant, relentless biting continued, deeper and harder until his chest was rising and falling so hurriedly it reminded Aurora of all the times he had arrived, panting, clawing at the door of her Astronomy tower.

 _You package yourself in with those buttons so tightly; no-one would ever guess that such purple and black and yellow bruises lurk beneath you..._ She thought... little did She know that there would be wounds, not so loving wounds, wounds in the very same place She used to devour, wounds he would never be able to cover up with black cloth and buttons...

The very same blood had just begun to appear in tooth-shaped little beads and dots in various positions upon Severus's neck. He never attempted to heal them magically - Aurora would never allow such a thing anyway, but he had never wished to, he wore them as badges to honour her work and that pleased Her all the more.

His pelvis had begun to arch, reach out and try to rub desperately, unconsciously, against Her own as the hissing from the blissful pain continued. Aurora spread Her aching wet thighs over him in his entirety; She did not particularly want to satisfy him so easily but by God She needed to be fucked and fucked so hard She wouldn't be able to walk properly until the following term. Hiss turned into moan.

And it was so subtle at first that She had not noticed. Not noticed him suddenly crying out in terrible pain... in unwanted, unwilling pain. Pain that did not belong to Her.

Aurora was suddenly awoken from her pleasurable reverie by the sight of him clawing at his left arm... the Mark which he had always so desperately attempted to hide was as black as it had ever been for two years now. And it was burning again.

"No... _no_..." Severus was muttering viciously, not from the pain which he was surely used to by now, but from sheer contempt. He swore savagely under his breath and, as if merely to spite the Dark Lord himself, tore himself around and kissed her just as contemptuously.

"You-hab-to-leeb-I'll-be-fine-..." Sinistra mumbled while simultaneously gagged by his unrelenting, greedy mouth. When they finally parted he gave a haughty scoff.

"I know _you_ will be, you idiot" Severus answered representatively cryptic and disparaging at the same time, as he began struggling hastily with his robes. Aurora watched on from the edge of the bed; her chest ached seeing him like this but she would never let it show, by God she would never let it show. She was the strong one. If she crumbled they both did and they both knew it.

She gave a forced smirk... but she was so good an Occlumens now that she wondered if he was able to realise it was forced.

"Guess I'll be entertaining myself all by my lonesome, yet again."

She lay back and parted her legs slightly, revealing every inch of her gloriously bare dark body twice over. Severus stopped mid-button with a furious groan and shot her the most exasperated glare in the history of the universe.

"Not helpful. _Really_ not helpful."

He finished with his buttons, swung on his cloak and kissed her once more upon her forehead.

"I'll be back soon, Borealis. You are forbidden to move on yet."

Sinistra smiled painfully.

"Oh, I'm sure that stupid oaf of a servant of yours has just burned your house down or something. It'll be fine."

Her eyes met his and she allowed him in this time.

 _It'll be ok. You will be ok._

And Severus nodded weakly.

"Well, with any luck he'd have burned himself along with it," he retorted as he drew out his wand, preparatory to Apparating away.

His eyes, empty and black like the most starless night, had not left hers. Sinistra relented and allowed him in just that little bit further.

 _I love you, Borealis._

 _Yeah, yeah, Gitface. I love you too._

It was much easier unspoken.

And after a pause that was just a millisecond too long, he had vanished with a crack. Her composure was now permitted to dissolve.

If only she had known. That this was nothing, _nothing_ , compared to what would happen in just under a year... that she would be praying to go back to a time where all she had to worry about was the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, or the Mark burning a little more than it did before, or Pettigrew replacing her as roommate at Spinner's End...

How she would give _anything_ to come back to this point in time...


	2. A Storm Stitched

In all ways, he was glad to be back at the castle for once in his life. It would mean that the tasks for the Dark Lord would slow… he would not be required at the meetings which had exploded in frequency over the past few months… he would have a new role to distract himself with…

And he would be with _her_ for longer than two seconds a week.

Severus would freely admit (well – to himself) that his entire existence for thirty-six years on this planet had not been completely void of troubles. He would be less likely still to admit that there been particularly dark moments where he had been so close, teetering right on the edge, of ending this miserable reality once and for all. There had been dark moments, very dark moments, when he had forgotten completely why he was fighting in the first place… but most of that had been before the Astronomy professor had confidently strutted into his life – smirking all the way as she did.

Now, though. This year in particular. Things had taken a drastic turn for the worst.

He was firmly seated back in the Dark Lord's closest ranks. Only this time, the seat coexisted with being Dumbledore's right hand man simultaneously. He could never have fathomed, even with the life he had lived up until this point, the amount of weight every inch of his bones would be feeling every second of every single day this year.

And the only thing that made that excruciating ache slightly more bearable was currently sitting opposite him at the Head Table of the Great Hall, shooting Dumbledore and Slughorn simultaneous glares over her string beans.

Severus could not help but fail to stifle a small smile at the very sight.

Borealis. Glorious, infuriating, maddening Borealis. What would he do without her?

It was either that thought, or everything in general, that made Severus push the entire plate of food away. He hadn't eaten anything remotely like food in months. He had mainly lived off a diet of bread and half cans of cold baked beans; Wormtail scurrying around him every single day for the last six weeks. He had kept himself mostly to his bedroom unless on some sort of mission from either the Order or the Dark Lord… well, the bedroom that had once belonged to his parents at least, before Tobias had perished at the hands of the Death Eaters and his mother at the hands of the Dementors of Azkaban – falsely accused of his murder.

And so, their utter failure of a son, had taken up residence in the master bedroom of the house that had once been full of shouting, screaming, crying and the smashing of various dinnerware. It was not a place he had ever imagined languishing in for the rest of his life, particularly not with Wormtail in tow in his old and tiny second bedroom, but it seemed more and more likely that Spinner's End would be the one and only poor excuse for a refuge he would ever receive.

These six weeks had been a purer kind of hell than ever before, because with Wormtail keeping a guileful eye on all of the proceedings in his abode: Severus had been forced to evict the one person who had finally managed to soften the harsh edges of the old, dilapidated house on the edge of the street next to the industrial mill. Aurora had only just begun to call Spinner's End her home, deciding to make the move from her brother's comfortably warm flat in London to Severus's cold, derelict ruins in the North West two years ago. Her telescopes, charts, planetary calendars, astrophysical quadrants, West African relics – had formed a perfect balance with his books, cauldrons, jars of herbs, magical artefacts and long-dead organisms.

The shithole had finally become something remotely like a home. And it had been _their_ home and Severus would never have managed using that sentence in his entire life. But if the woman was utterly berserk enough to actively _choose_ to keep him in her life – who was he to object? He certainly was not going to let on that he felt she could do an infinite amount better than settling for him; what if it made her finally realise it? What is she packed up and left immediately for a man who was generous, kind, physically appealing, and not riddled with bitterness and insecurities that ate him up inside every second of every day? A man who ventured even slightly into the realm of deserving her?

No, that wouldn't do. He would keep her for as long as he was capable thank you very much.

He barely even heard Dumbledore announce his name to the entire faculty and school body during his yearly speech on staff changes. He only managed a weak wave toward the only House applauding him (no points for guessing who they were) on his new position as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. He managed a sly side look at the Astronomy mistress after they had settled down, and she was still glaring in Dumbledore's direction which such intent that Severus was surprised the Headmaster didn't spontaneously burst into flames. Fuck. At least he had _her_ in his corner.

How long would he prepared to keep her in his corner, though? Knowing what was to come. What he had to do.

No. No he could not think in it. Live each day minute by minute – that was the only thing enabling his survival at present; forbidding him to end it all when the prospect of the future became too much. When the prospect of how much Borealis would hate him became too much… how she would never love him again and believe that he had never loved her at all.

At least she had loved him once.

And he couldn't let her go, not even when betrayal and murder was on the horizon. It would have been for her own benefit if he could simply end everything with her… end it now and spare her the pain, or least most of the pain… but he couldn't. He _couldn't_ do it. His selfishness in wanting to belong to her was too strong: a spell too potent to break. He would be hers until the very last moment, the very last _second_ he could manage… and the fact that he knew she would be torn apart made him hate himself more viciously than he had ever done before. It was no easy feat to hate himself more than he already had done all his life.

Without even realising it, the Great Hall had begun clearing after everyone had finished dessert. The sound of the hundreds of clueless students clamouring to get back to their dormitories was what had finally shaken Severus out of his depressing trance.

Severus's eyes scanned the staff table once again to see if Aurora would be willing to invite him over tonight. For privacy's sake they had never officially combined sleeping quarters. It was much easier to hide things this way, and they did very much enjoy their own space; but tonight… tonight… after finally returning to the only sanctuary offered to them at the moment, every nerve in him was on the edge of begging to not be left alone tonight. He wanted her marks on him. For such sweet, relieving pain to be delivered by the only one who loved him and who truly cared if he lived or died. He would wear those bruises and cuts and burns with pride upon his skin coming from Her hand.

But the opportunity of spending the evening at the bottom of her feet and worshipping every ounce of her had slipped away from his fingers. Aurora was currently storming out of the Great Hall with what appeared to be desperate intention to get away from everyone as quickly as possible, she was wearing black robes and a cloak tonight, just like he, and they shadowed her like a storm had been stitched to her back.

Severus caught the Headmaster's eye and hastily pushed all ache and emotion back into the bottomless pit of his stomach before Dumbledore's concerned gaze could get any more palpable.

"Severus…" he said quietly over the dispelling sounds of stragglers and the chattering of the staff who had remained. Snape allowed himself to be beckoned over and arrived at the older wizard's side.

"Headmaster" he replied as civilly as he could.

Dumbledore followed the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher's contemplation toward the end of the Great Hall before the hems of a black velvet cloak swept around the doorframe before continuing.

"I require your presence in my office for a few moments before you retire tonight," Dumbledore said calmly, "if it's no trouble."

"Of course," Severus answered on autopilot. As if he could refuse either his puppet masters at this point.

When Dumbledore had started to walk ahead of him a few paces, he had once again turned around and added quietly to the younger man: "it is rather urgent, Severus…"

His name shook him out of his painful contemplation even just for the briefest moment for him to keep up with the Headmaster. He walked silently, side-by-side next to him, although it felt much more like he was following, as always.

After he had met with Dumbledore that night – Severus would make a very conscious effort to distance himself from Aurora as much as possible, with hope that she could ever forget his existence; with hope she could go on to live a life he could henceforth never imagine for himself.


	3. Flight or Fight

_look: this, light spilling like honey_

 _from our lips. this, stars finding homes_

 _in the leftover curves of our necks,_

 _bleeding something holy into our skin._

 _look: this, where you sang until the moon_

 _fell in love with us too. where we wrote_

 _all our sins and set them on fire and danced_

 _until the rising sun kissed wings onto our backs._

 _look: this, the exit wound you healed_

 _by telling me it was a place for the cosmos_

 _to enter and make me whole again. this,_

 _the castles we built in our heads for each other._

 _look: let's go and splinter the stars._

 _let's run until we can fit the light in our bodies_

 _and teach it not to escape anymore._

 _let's run until we can find our way home again,_

 _until we realize home has been inside of us_

 _the whole time, waiting for us to return._

\- how to be whole again, Arlen C.

* * *

 **Flight or Fight**

Astronomy was one of those funny subjects when taken in an academic environment.

When she was at the Academy of Magical Astrophysics, Aurora would spend one week in theory lectures and classes, and the alternate week continuing her practical research in one of the Academy's many observatories. The alterative day/night routine suited her body clock much better than the shitstorm of the mixture of day and night classes Hogwarts had given her to deal with in her profession. In her younger days, she used the one week of free nights of catch up on readings (and perhaps a casual fling or two with a few extremely willing astronomer wizards…), and the free days to catch up on well needed sleep. It had worked well.

Under Dumbledore's regime her sleeping patterns and mental health in general were not doing _so_ well. Theory classes in the day and practical classes at night, coupled with the incessant worries about what currently lay in wait outside the walls of the castle had left her feeling nothing more than an empty husk of a woman. She could no longer look at herself in the mirror. The droopy bags and sharply deepened frown line was too much to take.

It had been a very thrilling afternoon for her seventh year N.E.W.T. students – they had just begun to get their final year research projects underway… projects that could consist of astronomical and magical theories and experiments of their choosing, projects that could gain one or two keen future astronomers entry into her old haunt of AoMA. The small group had spent the majority of the afternoon of her theory class huddled in chattering, excited groups over sprawled out pieces of parchment… musing on the brink of the rest of their professional and academic lives, seemingly without a care in the world but with all the murders and war that surrounded them this year Aurora assumed the cheeriness was nothing but a farce; a way to cope with the day to day. She knew the inside of that mask well.

Sinistra was glad that she could set them to task without much of her teacherly input today. She had been up half the night with the first years during their midnight lessons, and up the second half of the night tossing and turning in simultaneous hot and cold sweats… nightmares of Dark Marks burned into her abdomen and sounds of Severus screaming in bone chilling pain clouded the few moments of sleep that had been sanctioned to her.

Was it just her, or did the skies look greyer nowadays than they ever had before?

A vague ringing in her ears should have signalled the end of class, but it had completely washed over Aurora. It was only when one of the seventh years had called, "Professor Sinistra?" that she lifted her chin from her hands and snapped her gaze back into the classroom.

"Mr. Morgan?"

Mr. Morgan was currently gawking at her - clearly looking for the most refined way to say "can we get the fuck out of your class now?" – but he needn't bother. She just caught sight of the clock.

"Oh… yes…" she sighed, running a trembling hand over her tired eyes. "Go. Get out. See you all next week."

There was a sudden, deafening sound of about ten chairs skidding across the floorboards. A collection of noise that only ceased when the door to the classroom had slammed shut, leaving Aurora feeling just as alone as she had felt when the room had been fully occupied. She spent a few moments simply gazing, her eyes glazing over at the blackboard behind her: full of complex and blissful calculations… numbers that would never make her feel the way everything else was making her feel… numbers that wouldn't attach their talons to her ribcage and refuse to let go…

Just as she felt the sting of bubbling emotion begin to well up in her eyes, a knock at the door shocked her back into dignity.

"Yes?" she called, straightening herself up in the chair and trying in vain to look remotely presentable.

And she almost laughed out loud at the sight of who stood there, because it was the last person in the world she was expecting to be standing outside an Astronomy classroom door at the present time.

"Good afternoon, Aurora" Professor Dumbledore called quietly from the entrance, bowing his head politely.

 _Is it now?_ She thought bitterly.

When he was met with nothing but indifferent silence, he continued.

"I was wondering whether I could perhaps come in for a little chat?" he motioned to one of the students desks directly in front of her.

Aurora gave an extraordinary melodramatic shrug. All manner of respect for the old man had long since flown out of the window.

"Can hardly deny you, can I? It's your school." _We're all property of Albus Wulfric Brian Whatever Manipulative Geniusbastard Dumbledore after all…_

Ah, acquiring the skill of Occlumency gave her such vindictive pleasure sometimes.

Dumbledore faltered for just a mere millisecond (which gave Sinistra gratifying tingles in her belly) before allowing himself to stroll casually into the classroom, his sparkling blue eyes washed over all the slowly rotating planetary spheres and walls of equations as he did so.

"Ah, the perihelion and aphelion orbits…" he mused nonchalantly, taking note of some of her scribblings on the board. "The different ecliptic effects on various mind-alerting spells, I'm assuming?"

Sinistra nodded, rather disinterested in the casual talk. Dumbledore sighed audibly at the sight of the hundreds of little diagrams.

"To be a N.E.W.T. Astronomy student once again… if I recall correctly, my final research project comprised of astronomical units and the effects of the outer uncharted galaxy on various curses…"

 _Of course your project would comprise of the possible prospect of you boldly discovering new planets and systems, wouldn't expect anything less._

"And as far I recall, there was no such effect. Not unless you refused to submit your findings to publishing and you've kept the secret locked away in one of your drawers somewhere," Aurora replied tartly. She flashed an ironic smile at the old wizard, and she could tell by the way he was smiling back that he was thinking the exact same way about her but would die before he ever admitted it. He was far too noble for all of that, of course.

"May I sit?"

"Please. By all means," she waved her wand and one of the many chairs sitting in rows skited across the floor in front of her. Dumbledore nodded a thank you and took his place in front of her desk.

"I've just come by to enquire how you are going with your syllabus for the beginning of the year. Are you managing to cope with everything?"

Aurora countered with a deep frown.

"Of course I am," she shrugged. "I've been teaching the same subject for ten years – you'd hope I'd be able to manage it. Wouldn't be worth my wages if I couldn't, would I?"

"1986 when you first walked through these doors as a Professor, yes?"

"I believe so."

Dumbledore gave another infuriating smile.

"You know, I cannot help but be slightly intrigued," he began, leaning back in his chair slightly. "I remember you were rather… reluctant when I first wrote you offering you the position after Professor Alcor left us. You were off travelling the world researching for all the wizarding astronomy journals I can think of. I almost saw your name pop up weekly in British Magical Cosmology Monthly: _Professor. A. N. Sinistra._ You were a professor even before you walked through these halls and up into that tower; it was not a title simply bestowed upon you. It was earned. I never did quite ask you what persuaded you to change your mind, and more importantly…" his eyes glittered ominously at this "… what persuaded you to stay so long."

Immediately she knew what he wanted her to say. But she would throw her most prized telescope out of the tower before she ever admitted the answer to the latter part of that question.

"I suppose I needed some stability for once," Aurora said, absentmindedly scratching an old ink stain off her wooden desk. "Since… well… since my mother..." he voice choked at the mere mention of the woman who was so brutally taken away from her life. "Since I was taken in by my brothers – since leaving Mali and coming here -"

"Of course. It must've been hard for you."

"Being completely displaced after losing my parents was not quite something I was prepared for at thirteen, no," Aurora replied quietly. The tone had suddenly become far more serious than she would have liked and she could tell he was eyeing her with something remarkably close to pity and she wanted to slap it out of him.

Something happened then which Aurora would not have been prepared for in a million years of existence, and something which initially caused her to jump out of her skin. She felt a bony, cold, slightly trembling hand make contact with the back of the hand she was still using to scratch the bejesus out of the desk with.

 _He's holding my hand? I mean, he's HOLDING MY HAND?_

"Er…" she mumbled cautiously, wanting so badly to pull away but simultaneously not wishing to seem completely startled and foolish.

"I remember it well, you know," said Dumbledore. "That fateful day… '73, or '74, I can't quite recall - "

"'73," Aurora muttered darkly. She certainly would never forget that year.

"'73…" Dumbledore nodded. "You arrived in my office, along with your eldest brother I believe. I can't quite imagine how you felt. So much had happened to you all in that twenty four hours. Your mother, shifting entire continents to escape the massacres in Mali, an entire new school and new classmates who had already known each other for four years before you came along. It must have been quite the lonely existence."

All this sudden outpouring of sentiment from the Headmaster, someone she merely considered her boss and nothing more, finally got the better of the Astronomy professor. She pulled her hand away from his and started ruffling through her seventh years' project proposals.

"It was a long time ago. I don't wish to delve into such things it if it's all the same to you," Aurora countered severely. "I have about a billion and half of these to read and approve to the AoMA board. Half of these students won't get their approvals if I don't crack on. Was there anything else you wanted to pity me for?"

"My caring about your wellbeing is not pity, Aurora."

"Well, thank you for finally noticing my existence 23 years after the fact."

She had no idea why this sudden anger was finally seeping out through every pore. She had always managed to keep it well under control, for all these ten years she had been employee under him; though she had always still felt it - ever since he had sorted her as a thirteen-year-old in his office, and marched her down to the Slytherin dormitories and never since bothered to check on her and her mental state again. Like she had been some soulless bacterium incapable of nightmares and excruciating loneliness and endless flashbacks of her mother being murdered right before her eyes. None of that had ever mattered to him… and now he obviously wanted something from her, false sentiment had reared its ugly head. And she could hardly bare to look at him.

"I can assure you I have noticed your struggle, no matter how well you attempt to hide it," he replied as calmly as he could, though she could sense just a tiny bit of impatience in the back of his throat.

Aurora sniffed dubiously.

"Yeah," she quipped, rising from her desk, "when it _suits_ you, perhaps."

She didn't bother to look back at him as she collected all the students' proposals from their respective desks – she could have so easily used a summoning charm to pull them toward her desk, but the thought of looking at him anymore made her feel nauseous. They spent a few tense moments in obstinate silence… but she could feel his piercing gaze upon the hairs on the back of her head; so much so that Aurora shivered uncontrollably.

"There are many dangerous forces at play outside these walls…" his voice finally carried to her from the back of the classroom. "I want all of my staff safe and out of harm's way."

Sinistra, at this stage, could not help a snort of contempt.

"Safe and out of harm's way?" she echoed. " _All_ of them? Or just us lowly mortals who are worthless to your great cause? Or is it just me you want 'out of the way'?"

"Aurora… let's not go down this path…"

"Why have you come here, then?" she snapped harshly. Finally ready to face him, she stormed back to her desk with the mountain of parchment in her hands and slammed then down between them.

"Was it to try yet again to have me give in my notice?" Aurora said with a mocking grin. "Or are you just going to give up the charade and sack me on the spot. To finally have me out of the picture?"

"You are one of the most competent teachers I have ever had the pleasure in hiring," Dumbledore countered, his face remained impressively controlled, but the line between his twinkling blue eyes had deepened just enough that it transformed his entire demeanour. "Of course, I am not quite used to being so rudely spoken down to by such a highly-esteemed employee – but why on earth would I wish to sack you? I merely wished to give you a warning, as I have done with every single one of your colleagues and friends. To give you a choice."

"And what choice is this?"

His stare would have split her skull wide open if she hadn't the tools to protect herself. And she could tell by the way in which his shoulders dropped in disappointment, the way he gave a barely audible sigh, that he had found out her secret.

"It would not be wise…" Dumbledore said as diplomatically as he could seem to manage. "… to be seen to be associated with members of the Order. The Dark Forces that are amassing are greater than you could possibly know. Your life is in great danger by doing what you are doing, and I merely wish to warn you."

Aurora shot him a look of complete bewilderment, as she worked harder than ever to prevent mental images from floating to the very top of her grey matter.

"Associated with _whom_ , may I ask? I am associated with many members of your 'Order'; a lot of them I would consider my very good friends, and who I worry myself sick over daily. You think He Who Must Not Be Named is interested in my measly personal concerns?"

"He will when he finds out."

"Finds out _what_?!" Aurora had now completely lost the ability to keep her voice down. She beared over him and smacked her hand down threateningly on the table, just _daring_ him to come out and say it, to stop his fucking charade, to be _honest_ with her – with anyone – for once in his life. Sinistra laughed bitterly in the silent old man's face.

"As much as I would gladly exchange war and gloom and pain and bloody _Scotland_ for swimming naked under the stars in the Red Sea with copious amounts of booze – I'm afraid that for the time being, I am staying put," she said defiantly. "My family is here. Therefore, I am here. No amount of threatening on yours or anyone else's part is going to make me abandon him… _them…_ " she corrected almost a millisecond after that unfortunate slipup.

Dumbledore continued to survey her cautiously. His chin rested on the one hand that was blackened and mangled – _what the hell happened to that hand?_ She made a mental note to ask Severus before she remembered that she was avoiding him at all costs lately.

"My brothers and I are fighting in this war as well, you know," she said, leaning back into her chair and attempting to further deflect where the argument was headed. "Maintaining a safe portal between Hogwarts and Uagadou is no easy feat."

"No, I daresay it is not," Dumbledore agreed. The tension between them starting to lift just ever-so-slightly. "But having that safe passageway for victims has been invaluable to the Order and the greater wizarding community."

"Up until that point that he finds it…" Sinistra bit ominously. "Then it's not just wizarding Britain who is at war - it's wizarding Africa too. I am placing my birthplace in much danger by doing what I'm doing."

"I think if we allow his to continue it will consume the world as a whole."

Aurora nodded.

"I don't doubt that."

"Where are Mithras and Aion at present, by the way?"

"Safe, I hope," Aurora sighed. An unwelcomed weight had settled itself once again in the pit of her belly. "Aion has been away for quite some time… helping to seal Uagadou in as many shield and protective charms as possible. We haven't spoken for months. Last I heard he was busy gathering secret forces in Uganda, and back home in Mali and Ghana. But if wizarding war is unleashed in West Africa… I…"

Merlin, the mere thought set her nerves on fire. The utter chaos that even wizarding Britain could not fathom. The Muggle community in the sub-Sahara was not oblivious as British Muggles were. They were ready to find anyone of magical blood – they were ready for their _own_ war. There would be nothing but bloodshed and death in every direction.

"It'll be what happened to my mother all over again, by the hundreds of thousands," she ended quietly.

The Headmaster almost looked as despondent as she felt. _Good, I've finally been able to reach him,_ she thought. _Maybe he realises how much this is going to cost me._

"I promise you," he assured. "I and the Order are doing everything in our power to ensure that the greater community is protected at all costs."

"It's my brothers' safety I am concerned about – not your 'greater community'," Aurora interjected, a slight tinge of venom on the tip of her tongue. "What price will they pay to keep that vessel open?"

"You are maintaining that vessel just as much as they. You are the one guarding the Hogwarts gate. What price are you willing to pay?"

Images of brothers who had raised her; a mother, long dead, who had loved her; the Ancient Runes teacher – Professor Lhoridi - who had become the best friend she never thought she could have; and the greasy-haired Arsehead who had inadvertently become her Everything in this arcane cosmos… all of them simultaneously walked into the room. They had become so tangible that she could almost reach out and hold them to her ribcage and never allow them to leave her presence.

"Me…" Aurora started, mental barriers still black and unfathomable behind her eyes. "I'd gladly step off the edge of the universe itself."

The old wizard smiled, and finally she could feel something genuine radiate from him.

"I know you would," he nodded frankly, pushing both mangled and healthy hands upon the arm rests and raising himself slowly from the chair.

"And I know he would do just the same for you…"

Aurora felt a sudden stab of validation deep within her.

Finally. He had _finally_ admitted it, and she was still completely safe… he had not had to use Legilimency to find out the truth and it was sort of an unbearable kind of relief, even if he would still continue to drive them apart relentlessly.

But he would never drive them apart. Oh, she would make sure of it.

Dumbledore's deep plum robes had almost skirted the edge of the door before he turned around.

"You are a most impressive Occlumens, Professor Sinistra. You must have had quite the gifted tutor."

 _Ah… our games will never end, will they, Headmaster?_

Aurora snorted as she began to scribble notes upon the first piece of parchment in front of her, entitled: _Refuting the Significance of Sun Signs and Birth Charts – A Study to Completely Debunk the 'Art' of Divination: by Jessica Campbell._ Well, Miss Campbell was going to get top marks for this, Sinistra was sure. _Suck it, Trelawney, my N.E.W.T. students can eat yours for breakfast, lunch and dinner_.

"They might call themselves a gifted tutor," she retorted without looking up. "I call myself the perfect student. And I think we both know who's right."

She heard him chuckling in the distance as the sounds of his footsteps drew further and further away down the corridor. Aurora tucked one wayward dreadlock back behind her ear and refused to muse on Dumbledore's real intentions no longer… she would never get far, and she didn't quite care to devote so much of her time to him anyway.

No.

She held out the anti-Divination thesis proposal in front of her instead and smiled emphatically at it.

This was _definitely_ finding its way into Sybill's pigeonhole tomorrow morning…


	4. Mountains of the Moon

The school that lay carved into the face of the Mountains of the Moon was, and always had been, in Aion Sinistra's opinion, the most stunning sight his eyes had ever beheld. The most intricate carved rock sculptures of planetary bodies, magical African beasts, and the faces of most Ancient Vodun spirits lay at the entrances of the great mountain – guarding all those who dwelled within her walls. The face of the Great Creator herself, Mawu (whose seven children ruled over each realm of nature since the creation of time itself), stood towering above the great stone door high atop the mountain; which had served as entrance to Uagadou School of Magic for thousands of years before even Hogwarts had been founded.

On the very top of the mountainside, above the swirling mist, lay dozens of tiny observatories: little gleaming gold freckles scattered amongst this vast landscape, engraved with sacred Vodun runes of the cosmos. Occasionally a little gleam would spin slowly, focusing its eyepiece on some distant star, or galaxy… evidence that the school was still well and truly functioning to train the curious minds of the generations to come.

Aion had spent all his years of magical education here, before travelling to wizard Britain, and every time he had returned it filled him with a sense of purpose that no other place on earth did. The warm, wet, tropical savanna air… the smell of the ferns and broad leaf grasslands, and Robusta coffee in the air… there was nothing like this place in the world.

If only his visit had been for more a joyful reason. But he was not here for reunions, or the damp smell of grass and coffee beans.

"Sinistra."

Aion waved a casual to the fellow witch who had been accompanying his surveillance of the outskirts of the school.

"Anything interesting, Olanrewaju?"

The witch, dressed very purposely in robes the same colours of the dense tropics that surrounded them, pointed toward the lake from which she had appeared from.

"There is something you should help me look for over there," she stated hurriedly. "I was maintaining the Shield Charm on the Eastern end of the Mountain… someone was talking in hushed voices, I am sure of it."

Aion looked over in the direction of the lake to which she was pointed and frowned interestingly. They had not come across anything but the sounds of distant fauna and the flickering of the leaves on the tall trees for months… this was most indeed interesting. He began walking back with her, side-by-side.

"Unruly students, perhaps?" he offered a suggestion.

Olanrewaju shook her head.

"Doubtful," she whispered as they instinctively ducked down into the camouflaged safety of the grass and sat, watching. "High Headmistress Gisemba has the entrances completely sealed with charms only she can break. Besides, the place is crawling with Grootslang. Nobody in their right mind would be out here with a bunch elephant-eating serpents hanging around…"

"No-one but us, you mean," Aion grinned, pushing some wayward bush aside so he could get a clearer view from the marsh behind the lake. "How'd she manage to get a tribe of Grootslang from the Dahomey? Must have been quite the challenge."

The witch he knew as Naki Olanrewaju: Uagadou alumni and Mother Africa expat to Britain such as himself, chuckled as silently as she could.

"Don't know," she replied. "But I would have loved to see it. From about fifty miles away."

Eyes, still trained on the source of the voices, they nevertheless began to laugh, almost positive that the disturbance was nothing but a particularly irate Grootslang hunting for a first-year for dinner.

"Aion…" Naki mused quietly after a few moments. "That's a very strange name for a Malian wizard. That surely isn't regional."

Aion gave her a curious side-eye but indulged her.

"It's Ancient Greek."

"Greek _?"_

"Yeah," he muttered, shifting himself slightly to make himself more comfortable. "My father was a bit of a traveler - and a Deity enthusiast to boot. He named all three of his children after Gods and Goddesses… and everyone wonders why we have such big egos."

Naki's shoulders jumped as she began to laugh silently.

"What does it mean, then, 'Aion'? What do you _rule_ over like the gigantic egomaniac you are?"

Aion remained completely silent until she shoved him gently on the shoulder.

"… the circle encompassing the zodiac and the universe…" he replied with a heavy sigh. Naki could not keep her laughter in any longer.

"Oh, that's not going to give anyone a big head!" she cackled manically. Aion dropped the pieces of grass he was absentmindedly toying with and playfully pushed her away.

During that one split second of distraction, of them allowing themselves one moment of respite in their jokes and tinges of flirtation, a flash of green light shot straight across the lake opposite them, passing by Aion's head so closely that it singed the black hair on his head. The witch and wizard threw themselves to the ground and began scrambling toward the edge of the lake, screaming various protective charms and hexes as they did so.

" _Aquamurus!_ " Naki shrieked, throwing the palms of her hands toward the water's edge. Suddenly, the water began rising out of its container within the lake, creating a wall of shimmering blues variegated with moss and tiny flickering fish. The curses which were being hurled at them began hitting the wall of liquid instead of passing straight through the air, decelerating them immeasurably and affording Naki and Aion precious time to make their way around to the other side.

Aion, who had been accustomed to wand magic for too long to hark back to his wandless heritage, began firing Stupefy curses off in all directions as they reached the other side. Grass and tree roots were blasting through the air as if bombs were falling all around them. In the corner of his eye, Aion could see a couple of lights saturating the entrance to the school as the great door above them swung open, and hurried footsteps begun skirting their way down the mountain.

"There! There!" Naki suddenly screamed – thrusting her hand directly in front of her, which sent another hex swirling off in the intruder's direction. Aion looked around and saw them. Two hooded figures in black. One had just been inadvertently hit by Naki's spell – and it had thrown them completely off their feet.

" _Expelliarmus!_ " Aion cried as the backup had arrived behind him. Soon, hexes and spells and shouts were heard from every direction, and the intruders knew they were now very much outnumbered. The one still standing Disapparated into thin air, but the second figure was still on the floor scrambling for his wand… Aion caught one millisecond vision of a mask.

" _QUICK!_ " one witch behind him shouted but it was too late – the second figure had leapt for his wand and had vanished in an instant. It took a minute or so in the confusion for everyone's spells to dissolve and cease.

While Naki sped off into the grasses to look for any evidence of the spies, Aion turned to see the High Mistress of Uagadou School behind him, surrounded by several other professors.

"Who was it?" High Mistress Gisemba questioned. "Was it one of… them?"

Aion looked back to the spot where the other pair had vanished – the spot where Naki was currently sweeping her hands over, attempting to pick up anything they had left behind.

"I couldn't say," he made up. He knew very well who they had appeared to be, but his theory was based on a few seconds of visual evidence and it was not enough to cause mass panic within the Uagadou community.

Gisemba, an aged witch who still exuded the mass power of younger years, turned around to the seven or so witches and wizards behind her, some of whom Aion remembered as his teachers.

"Go," she commanded, throwing out her arms. "I want every inch of the boundary searched. Any evidence of more of… _this_ … I want brought to my attention immediately."

The teachers made their various exits into the dense forest surrounding the school, wands now lit up as darkness had begun to descend. Naki returned to the sides of both Aion and Gisemba and sighed.

"Nothing," she relayed. "Probably just troublemakers stirring the pot…"

Aion could tell immediately from the look on High Headmistress's face that she did not believe a word of it. He didn't blame her suspicion: one of the 'troublemakers' _had_ tried to kill him, after all. A deep line had appeared between Gisemba's brows.

"We must have constant surveillance," she said. "At every entrance point of this mountain and further out into the boundaries of the forest. I trust you can assemble more people, Sinistra?"

"Olanrewaju might have to tackle that alone for the time being," Aion replied, exchanging looks with his look-out partner. "I think I need to pay my sister an overdue visit."

"The Order…" Gisemba nodded knowingly, "I'll take you back up to the school."

Before they began to work, Aion felt a small hand on his back. He turned to see Naki's face looking up at him – it was full of apprehension and fear.

"You'll be ok?" she queried, her breathing noticeably raspy. "It's dangerous over there…"

Funny, how the tides turn, Aion thought ironically. Only just a year ago the situation would have been completely reversed.

"I'll be fine," he assured her, something deep within him wanted to stroke her arm but he managed to resist. No point in developing something else in times such as these…

"Hogwarts is perfectly safe," Aion continued when it was clear that she did not believe him. "All I need to do is rely a message to her and I'll be back."

"Take me to Hogwarts then," Naki insisted, grabbing onto him. "If it's as safe as you say – take me with you."

"There's no… there's no need for you to come. You're needed here."

He realised suddenly that Gisemba had started wandering off toward the school by herself, obviously intuition telling her to leave both of them to themselves for a few moments. Naki bit the corner of her lip as she pondered this and suddenly she reached out and kissed him lightly on the cheek before pulling his disheveled robes together.

"You tell your sister that she needs to get you back here in one piece," she commanded. "Or she'll have me to answer to. Okay?"

Aion flashed a final smile before turning back to the Headmistress. "I wouldn't worry," he answered behind him as Naki watched them ascend the mountain. "I think Rora's stubbornness alone is enough to keep us all immortal…"

Gisemba and Aion arrived at the vast stone doors near the top of the mountain; the High Headmistress looked up into Great Creator Mawu's inscription upon the rock, swept her hands over her head and began to chant. Suddenly, the Great Creator's sleepy eyes creaked open to reveal the most brilliant purple coloured eyes. Her eyes were almost like staring into the sun… one could not look directly at them without being momentarily blinded. The wizard and elder witch shielded their faces and moved into the opening entranceway.

Uagadou was more like a wizarding city than merely a school as Hogwarts was. The African wizarding community was far more insular, more secretive, than wizarding Britain. They could not afford to be sprawled out all over the continent as their British contemporaries, else they all risk mass extinction. Numerous little shops and market stalls scattered the edges of the cave-like kingdom, witches and wizards running around selling everything from Vodun jujus to breads and stews. In the middle of the vast cave was the entrance to the hospital; Vodun practitioners were scurrying in and out, carrying various smoking amulets and potions, Aion could catch the sound of distant chanting radiating out from its doors, along with stomach churning wailing…

On the very top layer of the inner mountain was the entrance to Uagadou School. Aion and Gisemba walked briskly up the twisting stone steps and through a hallway, scattered with the occasional teenager or two making their ways back to their rooms after dinner. Up and up they ascended until they were in par with the observatory.

"In we go," Gisemba motioned to one of the doors along the corridor, they both stepped into her vast and intricately decorated office. On the other side of her office stood a very different looking kind of entrance… it was a complete circle, shrouded in both Adinkra and elder futhark runes, a melting pot of African and European protective symbols.

Gisemba stood directly in front of the passageway and began to twist her hands and chant underneath her breath, almost as if in song and dance. As her body moved and her voice carried, an Adinkran rune the symbolized the cosmos that appeared to have been carved into her chest began to glow and pulse, the runes upon the door pulsed a deep blue along with the one on her body.

Aion watched on as the solomonic circle in the centre of the wall turned, creaking against the outer edge of the rock as it begun to spin faster and faster, until there was nothing but empty, black space beyond.

"She should be aware that the portal has been opened," Gisemba instructed, tapping Aion gently on the back as she guided him into the darkness. "Go. I cannot keep it open for long… not anymore… we cannot risk unwanted fugitives finding it. Give my regards to Aurora and Dumbledore."

Aion nodded and stepped his way boldly into the nothingness.

It was like wading through a giant, viscous bubble. Nothing as sickening as Floo powder and for that he was thankful. Aion strode determinedly through the thick, fluid-like air, moving forward and forward through the pitch blackness. After about five or so minutes a line of white light appeared before him; he strode toward it, its beacon becoming brighter and brighter and larger…

The light eventually took on the form of another door. He struggled against it, pressing his palms down upon the exit as he gave a great push and opened the door.

He landed in a pitch-black, and very cold, room. Aion immediately began to shiver, kicking himself for not thinking to dress for Scottish weather. Frost coated the windows before him, but what he saw inside the office made him warmer than even the tropics of Uganda had made him feel. There was a silently orbiting solar system above his head by the unlit ceiling lamp; walls of planetary systems and equations written in familiar handwriting had him surrounded in ease.

Before he had any chance to flick his wand to at least get a fire started in the abandoned office, the door opposing the portal flung open so hard that it ricocheted off the wall, causing one of the planets above him to come falling to the ground.

The lights in the room all became illuminated at once, and he was facing the one person he had dearly hoped to see. His younger sister, dressed in far more appropriate thick robes and cloak, stood before him. Just behind her shoulder loomed the bat-like Severus Snape, and his wand was already raised upon the intruder.

At the mere sight of her brother behind her desk, Aurora's eyes flooded with tears.

" _Balima_ …" she wept in their native Bambara, and ran full-speed into his arms. Aion caught her entire body in his.

"Balimamuso," he replied, fervently kissing her now saturated cheeks. He held her to him as tightly as he could, thanking Great Mawu Herself that she was safe. And, after an entire year without their voices or seeing their faces, that he was finally home, even for the briefest of sweet moments.


	5. Most Trusted

**5.**

 _He better be fucking in there, the elusive prick._

Aurora knocked upon the office door a good twenty times.

"Severus! _Severus_! Get out here!"

It was with much gratitude that she heard hurried footsteps getting closer and closer to the door before his face, sallowed and sunken with stress, appeared from within the office.

"Could you be a bit noisier next time? I don't think Pluto heard you."

"It's burning," Aurora interjected in the middle of the quip.

Severus frowned disconcertedly; his eyes scanned her from her head to her waist.

"Do you want me to make you an ointment for that, or…?"

Aurora gave a robust groan.

"No, I mean _this_!" she jabbed her fingers hard on her breastbone. "It's _burning_."

Severus's cavernous eyes widened in comprehension.

"The Uagadou portal?"

"Someone's coming though. Come with me."

Aurora had been somewhat dubious when Dumbledore had come to her at the beginning of the year with the idea of burning a two-way teleportation rune into the centre of her chest.

It was a concern that had been fair, of course, and she had many questions and concerns regarding the process. It had almost felt like being branded with a Dark Mark of her own - only it didn't hurt and burn as much as Severus's. In fact, before tonight, it hadn't burned her at all.

She had agreed to be keeper of the Hogwarts end of the Uagadou portal out of sheer Slytherin haughtiness. She didn't trust anyone else to be opening and closing the doors, allowing Merlin knows what to scurry between the two countries that had been her only forms of home. No. If anyone was going to watch who or what was passing in between the schools, it would be her.

Just as long as it wouldn't cause a permanent scar, of course. She could do without that reminder for the rest of her life, thanks.

The night it had finally glowed and burned, it had been an extremely frosty February night, and she had just been finishing up shovelling down Sheppard's Pie which she had been brought up to her office by the House Elves; there was no time anymore to socialise in the Great Hall.

Aurora had almost forgotten that she had been branded with the responsibility due to there being absolutely no movement between the schools. It was only to be used in dire circumstances after all. Which was why both Defence Against the Dark Arts and Astronomy professor was currently attempting to look as casual as possible to all the students they passed as they began to run towards Sinistra's office.

But running casually, especially during times such as this, proved to be no easy task.

"Something terrible must have happened…" Aurora breathed hoarsely as she and Severus approached the abandoned corridor, and, seeing that no students were present, began to sprint side-by-side. Their cloaks collided together in a black and coffee coloured dance.

She couldn't get visions of a war-torn and flaming Uagadou out of her head… her brother… what if it was a messenger coming to inform that something had… no… she couldn't bear to think anymore.

The both of them drew out their wands as they came to her office door at the end of the corridor, Aurora skidded to a halt and exchanged ready nods with a panting Severus. She thrust open the door safeguarded by his ebony wand, which was resting upon her shoulder, ready to blast any rival intruder into millions of shards.

Upon sensing their owner's presence in the room, the office lights became illuminated at once. And upon catching her first sight at the intruder currently standing behind her desk (rubbing his arms vigorously and looking most out of place in his thin, dark green cotton robes in the wintry climate), Aurora felt her heart rocket out of her chest and into her throat.

" _Balima_ …" she wept, unable to contain the flood of tears. She practically flew over her desk to get to him faster. Aion remained surprisingly steadfast as he caught the full weight of his airborne sister in his arms.

"Balimamuso."

 _Sister_.

Her heart couldn't explain how it felt to hear Bambara spoken again. Aion pressed his lips firmly upon her cheek.

"N bila a'," _I've missed you_ , he moaned as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders just for a few moments.

Aurora rocked him against her. She held his face in between in her hands and looked at him as properly as she could with tear stained eyes.

"Filanan bè badaa," _every minute_ , she sniffed. She dropped down back upon the ground and promptly hit him angrily on the arm.

"And _why_ has it taken you so long to let me know that you were alive?!" Aurora shouted. "A year without any news! A year of imaging the worst! I would kill you myself if I didn't love you."

"You know everything is being intercepted," Aion responded, still shivering. "International correspondence is near impossible. Believe me, I've had it worse with both you and Mithras over here."

"What's happened?" Aurora asked. "No one has had cause to use this passageway until now - "

In the middle of her sentence, the archway encrusted with the same Adinkra and elder futhark runes as the one in Gisemba's office began to glow the same vivid blue. Aurora felt the burning upon her breast bone, which had been constant ever since the portal had been opened, subside and ease. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's been trouble," Aion explained – rather cryptically in Aurora's eyes. She understood why he was looking so concerned when she glanced at the other man in the room behind her, still looming in the doorway and still with his wand raised at her own brother.

"Put it down, Severus, for God's sake…" she commanded.

Looking as if he wholly opposed her directive, Severus nevertheless allowed his grip to lessen.

"What kind of trouble?" queried Aurora. "Not Uagadou?"

Aion sighed.

"Not yet," he replied. "But it was a close call. At least I think it was. I really need to speak to Dumbledore… Gisemba thought it a good idea."

"I am afraid the Headmaster is indisposed at the present time," Severus finally piped up from the shadows of the doorway. "He has left the school for the weekend. I, however, would be more than willing to receive a briefing and pass the message on. Dumbledore is far too busy to hear _every_ scrap of possible leads, after all…"

A dubious expression crossed Aion's face at the mention of this. As if he would rather cut off his own arm than confide any shred of information to Severus Snape. Aurora's suspicions were proven right.

"I'd like to have more than one Order member present, if it's all the same to you," he replied with a dubious undertone. Aurora's eye flicked between the two wizards on the opposing ends of the room, almost suffocated with the tension.

If it had been anyone else, she thought, if anyone else in the Order had accompanied her here Aion would have been more than happy to talk right here right now.

"May I ask why?" Severus folded his arms somewhat defensively across his chest.

"Let's not - " Aurora started.

"I would just feel more… _comfortable_ with that," Aion murmured darkly.

"Alright," Aurora called an end to the conversation. "This is getting nowhere fast; we'll go and get Minerva."

She curved her fingers around her thick winter cloak, wrapped it around her shivering brother and pulled him with her toward the door.

* * *

"Give Severus a break, would you?" Aurora whispered as quietly as she could as the three of them marched up one of the hidden staircases; Severus was just far enough away from them for her to be able to give Aion a verbal beating.

"Why should I?" he replied stubbornly.

"Because! You have no idea the pressure he's under. He barely sleeps or eats. Working for the Order and the… other side."

"Getting special treatment from both sides, you mean," Aion muttered skeptically as they crossed into the dark fourth floor corridor. The two Sinistra's found themselves alone for just a few moments as Severus continued to ascend the stairs behind him.

" _I don't trust him_ , okay?" Aion quietly spat; he was still wrapped in Aurora's cloak and still shivering profusely. "End of the day he's still a _Death Eater_. And you are putting yourself in mortal danger being seen with him! They'll use you as bait!"

"Ok, let's not start this macho 'protective' father-figure routine, shall we?" Aurora was very accustomed to this, and equally as accustomed to putting a stop to it. "I'm a thirty-five-year-old woman who's fighting in this war as well. I make my own decisions, and I'm the one who decides whom I do and do not _'get seen with_ '. Understood?"

Their hushed conversation was cut short as Severus opened the door to join them in the corridor. Aion looked away as if he couldn't bear to even look at him. Severus, in turn, began walking toward McGonagall's quarters without them.

Several minutes later, all three of them awkwardly stood in Minerva McGonagall's living quarters – a very perturbed Transfiguration professor was currently eyeing them all dressed in her ridiculous tartan dressing gown.

"Well, I can't say I'd ever expect to see a sight like this in my living room," Minerva addressed the trio, stifling a yawn.

"And I don't believe we've ever had the pleasure?" she added, nodding toward Aion, who immediately threw out his hand.

"Aion Sinistra," he introduced himself. Minerva reached out and took his hand with great interest.

"Sinistra?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow, "so you are…?" she exchanged looks with Aurora who nodded.

"He arrived out of the Uagadou portal, Minerva," Aurora explained. "He has news he needs to share with Order members."

"Who aren't me," Severus quipped from behind with a smirk. "Would you prefer it if I stepped out? Put my fingers in my ears, perhaps?"

McGonagall frowned but did not continue that avenue of conversation.

"I see. Very well," she said, gesturing to Aion. "Let's hear it."

And so Aion told his tale. Of the surveillance and the sudden figures in the tropics, amongst the coffee-tinged air and damp ground… of Naki not finding a single of them… of the brief glimpse of a mask… hooded, black, masked wizards…

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Minerva enquired at the end of his story.

Aion shook his head and shrugged.

"I don't know what I saw, and I don't want to cause panic by jumping to conclusions; masks are a common accessory amongst magical folk after all."

"They could be the Vodun Priestesses," Aurora offered, referencing the clan of matriarchal witches chosen by an oracle to lead and protect sections of the West African magical community. "You only caught a brief glance of them after all."

"I don't know what I saw," Aion repeated – harsher, as if he were trying to convince himself more of the fact than her. "Though they certainly didn't strike me as Priestesses. Gisemba merely thought it would be appropriate to alert the Order of any disturbances…"

Minerva nodded and strolled away, musing, toward the window.

"Severus," she commanded. "Are you aware of any activity near Uagadou school?"

The thus-far silent, dark entity near the door shuffled slightly.

"I have not been informed of any activity outside of the United Kingdom," he answered. "The Dark Lord, as far as I am led to believe, plans to establish utmost control within local boundaries first."

"What _he's_ been informed of and what he's telling us could be vastly different!" Aion snapped suddenly.

"Alright, that's enough!" Aurora had officially had it up to here with her brother's exhausting commentary. "Just because He Who Must Not Be Named might not disclose every detail to every single one of his followers -"

"- even his most _trusted_ followers?" Aion interjected, his glare at Severus in this dim candlelight was sharp enough that it might well have blinded them all.

"- it doesn't mean that Severus is _hiding_ anything from you!" his sister finished without acknowledging his riposte. "And even if he did, so be it. You're a messenger. You've done your job. Best he keeps his secrets and lives to see another day!"

Thankfully Aion had learned to pick his battles. Annoyed as he looked, he shrugged and said no more. Saying more would be slightly worrisome, anyway, considering that Minerva had called an order for calm and was currently issuing instructions for each witch and wizard in the room.

It had been the first time since entering Minerva's quarters that Severus had looked up and acknowledged anyone. And when his eyes locked onto hers they were glittering intensely, with an emotion she could not quite distinguish…


	6. One Point Four Eight

**6.**

The tower. _Her_ tower. It had been his only refuge from all creatures, humans and others alike, for a decade now. And here he found her hiding from them all again.

It had taken a good while for Aurora to convince her brother to stay at Hogwarts, at least overnight. Though Severus was sure that if Aurora had her way she would have blocked up that passageway to Uagadou for good and tied Aion in chains to her, but life was not simple: and neither were the ones she loved. Oh, the suspicious wizard who clearly hated every cell in Severus's body (who didn't?) would have to leave back to Uganda soon enough… and Aurora would have to maintain a watchful eye upon the portal and pretend everything had gone back to normal.

It was laughable how 'normal' everyone had to act. A war coupled with daily Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. Absurd.

He knew that Aurora had been instructed by Minerva to make a trip to the owlery, to cryptically inform Dumbledore of the news from her brother and Uagadou. And after saying goodnight to her brother, Severus knew where she would be headed.

He opened the door expecting to find her working, attempting furiously to rid her mind of anything outside of her observatory but he was wrong. He found her simply lying upon the floor of the tower, her cloak spilled out beneath her and it was as if she were slumbering on some dark storm cloud. Her hands were twirling in front of her… in between her fingertips, hundreds of tiny little sparkling stars and comets and nebulae burst forth, creating a miniature little universe swirling above her head. Severus subconsciously leant into the magical holograph, wishing to be devoured by another place… another realm with her…

"I believe you might need a new hideout," he said softly. He made his way to her methodically, his footsteps creaking every second step upon the floorboards. Sitting himself down and slowly shuffling onto his back next to her, both of their heads came to rest together underneath the tiny, glimmering galaxy.

"I don't know, Sev," Aurora sighed, dropping her hands to merely lie and bask in her magical creation. "I think problems might follow us to the end of time itself."

He had either come up here tonight with the intention of attempting to create more space between them, or to crumble once again as he usually did and come crawling back – he hadn't decided what to plump for quite yet. All Severus knew was that the way Aurora had spoken about him back in Minerva's rooms… no one had ever made him feel so trusted, so relied upon in his entire life and somehow – _somehow_ – he had to repay it.

But all the love in the world could not repay what it felt like to have someone trust him…

A trust that would be swiftly taken away in due course, there was no denying that anymore.

Severus reached out his arm and softly pushed its way through the bottom of her neck, eventually Aurora lifted herself up, permitting her head to be propped up onto his chest. She lay back upon his black robes and he breathed in her familiar and comforting scents of plum-infused dusk and red wine.

"Brother number two is quite the charming man…" Severus drawled as his fingers scraped against the small of her back over and over. "You'd think he'd just come face-to-face with the Dark Lord himself when he stumbled out of that portal."

"He's just being protective," Aurora explained, "they both think it's their respective, rather disgustingly manly duties to 'look after me', ever since buwa… I mean dad… passed away. Believe me, it riles me far more than it annoys you."

His chest gave a quick jerk as he made a slight sound of sardonic amusement.

"Must be nice…" he mused sarcastically. "Being loved and trusted."

This response was swiftly countered with a sharp jab in between his ribs, and a rising sense of anger from her.

"I'm sorry. Have you missed the unremitting memos over the years a certain delusional Astronomy professor _lying on the floor right next to you_ trusts you and loves you - for some senseless, inexplicable reason on her part?"

 _Why did you have to say that?_

Severus felt an incredibly unwelcoming sting forming in the corners of his eyes. She knew. She bloody _knew_ to be told he was trusted, _loved_ , filled him with an unacceptable amount of weakness he could not afford to show.

"Thank you, Borealis," Severus whispered back, almost inaudibly. The pain of what was to come was now too great, too unbearable, to think about.

His slender and disciplined fingers tracing patterns upon her back, rendering her almost cataleptic from the lack of talking he was hearing from her - but Severus was swiftly broken out of his rare reverie when she suddenly rolled herself on top of him.

"I know there's a war going on and everything…" Aurora mused as she began to fiddle with the buttons on his neck and proceeded to move downward to his chest. "But I can't think of a time where I have gone _this_ long without being fucked by you. It's been three god-damn _months_ of nothing but myself."

"Borealis… I didn't come up here to…"

"Do you realise how unsatisfying that is?" she continued to try and open him up to her once more; "to not have you inside my bed for weeks on end? Inside _me_ …"

 _No. Don't say anymore._ Severus thought frantically as her wet and hot mouth wriggled its way underneath his collar. He clamped his eyes shut and turned his face from her, as if forcibly detracting himself from the scene at hand would somehow magically stop his heart from thumping behind rib cage; his hands from wanting to slip off her cloak and her robes and witness her beautiful body once more; his hips from reaching desperately toward her for much needed satisfaction…

When Sinistra lifted his head in her hands and pulled their lips toward one another, despite Snape closing his eyes for just a few mere seconds of pleasurable bliss as her lips brushed back and forth against his, he eventually pulled away so hard that he heard something in her elbow click.

"I can't -" he almost wept. She certainly did not need to tell him how long it had been since that had shared any intimate contact. But the increasing intensity of affection would not serve either of them well in the coming months…

Aurora relented, she dropped his back against the floorboards so callously that bolts of pain erupted behind his eyes. She pulled herself up from his unresponsive body and twirled around to hold her own legs instead.

"I give up," she announced assuredly. "Come back to me when you're ready, Gitface, but do it quickly before I move on to another wizard would you?"

After heaving a weighted sigh, he leant up and opened his eyes, exchanging a miserable look at her and rubbing his panging skull.

"Perhaps it is better if you do."

"What?"

"It's better if you do!" he spat loudly this time, he pushed himself up viciously from the floor and now towered above her prostrate body, he thought if he towered ominously over her he could perhaps be taken a bit more seriously than embracing with her on the floor as if they were some hormonal, petulant teenagers…

"Nothing can – _nothing can happen to you_!" Severus demanded, stalking away to the very edge of the Astronomy tower where he leant over the railing – hunched and unable to stop himself from shaking. "I couldn't bear… I love you too mu - I couldn't bear -"

 _Now would be an appropriate time to leave_ , Severus cursed himself inside his own sore head. Yes. Now would be an appropriate time to leave, do whatever Dumbledore asks of you and love her enough to leave her for good.

But try as he might, it was as if his fingers were glued to the rail of the tower. Severus blinked up into the black abyss above him, constellations and pin points of light glittered around him, and it made him feel so very comfortingly small and insignificant.

"You know the moon moves away from the earth at the rate of 1.48 inches per year." He heard her say behind him.

"I… sorry?"

"The moon moves away from the earth at the rate of 1.48 inches per year," Aurora repeated. Severus miraculously unglued each of his yellow fingers from the railing for the time behind and turned back into the blues and purples of her spell. She was standing now, and pacing back and forth as if she were centre-stage in one of her lectures at the Academy of Magical Astrophysics.

"That is absolutely mesmerising," Severus bit sardonically, not trying purposely to sound cruel but failing. "but I fail to see what on earth that has to do with -"

"But that is the question, right there," Aurora pointed at him as if he had suddenly pulled some highly elightening proverb out of his arse. She stepped toward him - he had always enjoyed the sound of her heels on the floor – and gripped at the edges of his cloak, pulling them together slightly around the buttons which were still torn open.

"Are you the earth," she queried matter-of-factly. "Or the moon?"

Severus opened his mouth where it hung in mid-air for far too embarrassingly long. As a man of science, he had always hated these kinds of answerless conundrums and assumed she had done too.

"I – I am none of those things!" Severus snapped as hard as he could, mustering all his anger back again. "I am a cursed man who wants nothing more than to leave the vexatious woman he loves intact. If that is a crime, then so be it!"

 _NOW would be an appropriate time to leave._

But before he could stalk off suitably, dishing out punishments to everyone he found out of bed on the way to his quarters, it was Aurora, instead, who had decided to have the final say.

"Okay," she said venomously, so close that he could feel her heated breath devastate his frosty cheeks. "So _be_ it."

She twisted away, her brunet robes twirled in a flurry of wildness around her, and stormed toward the door. He watched her slam the door shut upon him, all the while his head was pounding in pain and… what was it… was it guilt?

The miniature galaxy enchantment collapsed all around him; planets and stars and nebulae dropped to the ground at his feet and all was left in darkness. Severus placed a trembling hand over eyes and rubbed his temples…

No…

He did not have the willpower inside him for this. To be left in the darkness.

* * *

It was well past two in the morning when a still-trembling, furious, desperate, weak, pathetic Severus turned up at Aurora's bedroom door.

At first, he could only make out her silhouette: the one or two candelabras she had lit on her way to answer the door danced around her outline vividly, and he could tell that she must've been glaring him down… one hand rested dramatically upon her hip.

 _I can't do it…_ his thoughts teemed, attempting to reach hers without him having to actually speak such foolish and pathetic words.

 _I can't do this, Borealis._

His eyes began to adjust. The side of Aurora's face was now barely visible to him, but he could tell that she was nodding… his thoughts had reached her.

 _You can do it, my love,_ her thoughts whispered back.

She gently pulling him toward her via his uneven collar. Severus allowed his eyes to scan up and down the corridor before him to ensure that no wayward student or staff member were hiding in the shadows, ready to be obliterated by his wrath, before Aurora brought their lips together in the doorway. Severus had to rest both of his hands upon the doorframe to ensure that he remained standing upright, for his knees positively gave way as Sinistra held his face in her grasp, her soft, black lips teased an opening in his and the very tip of her tongue began to tease the inside of his mouth.

"You can do it with me…" she panted in between the fervent kisses between them.

"But for now -" Aurora moaned as Severus leant forward in the doorframe, desperate for his tongue to find its way further inside her.

" - for now, you can do it _to_ me…"

It was only through years of servitude to the Dark Lord that Severus could, at this exact moment and all others, give off the impression that he was a confident man. Were he not such a talented actor his trembling resolve would have crumbled right there and then but there was no way in hell that he was going to let the fact that he felt sick to his stomach ruin everything.

Aurora pulled him through into the living room and used the ball of her foot to kick shut the door behind them. She practically toppled both herself and the Head of Slytherin over the couch where began to fiddle furiously with his endless tracks of buttons, Snape could not help but fail to hide a smirk as he watched her work… beads of sweat were appearing over her forehead and her hands were trembling as much as his entire body.

"I don't want any faffing around tonight," she commanded from above his waist, her delicate fingers flicking upon button after button upon his chest, revealing the slightly damp undershirt that lurked beneath his usual suit of armor. "I want to be fucked so hard that I won't be able to see straight tomorrow, understood?"

His hips couldn't help a rather violent jerk at her alluring directive. Severus had to let out a calming breath through pursed lips in order to settle himself down… no 'faffing around'? No long-winded sessions after three months of nothing but highly unsatisfying masturbation merely to send him off to sleep sooner?

Not a problem, Borealis, not a problem.

"Allow me," Severus offered, flicking her hand out of the way unhooking the remainder of the buttons of his jacket, giving Aurora the opportunity he had hoped for – the opportunity to lift up her silver, satin nightdress. As he threw his top layers away he could not help but be utterly distracted at the sight of the body he had so ached to have wrapped around his for months on end. The gorgeously robust ebony body he pictured in his mind every single damn time he had worked himself up with his incredibly unappealing, sallow, bony hand. He ran said unappealing, sallow, bony hands up and down her glorious curves: trying to decipher where ribs ended and waist began…

Sinistra turned around upon his own waist, a move which triggered an intense amount of electric activity in his still-clothed thighs. He watched, spellbound, as her fingernails danced with the clasp of her bra before each one popped free from its captor. She shrugged the material off and threw it upon the floor before bending down to fiddle with the buttons on his fly… why the fuck did he wear so many god-damned tedious buttons?

Not to worry. He was rather enjoying himself with the sight that beheld him now… Snape let out a small, inconspicuous moan of appreciation as his fingers scraped the edges of her curves and journeyed downward to cup that powerful, obsidian coloured arse he had come to worship so well. The glow and the beauty of the stars were nothing compared to this sight.

He felt the tug of material below and lifted his hips slightly to allow her to wriggle off the trousers, whereupon she hurled them across the room somewhere… Severus frowned after them: he hoped he'd be able to find them again tomorrow. He _would_ eventually require them, after all.

Aurora had suddenly flipped herself around again, but now underneath her sight he felt ridiculously gaunt in comparison to her. He had forgotten just how long it had been since she had seen him fully undressed… would she have forgotten how skinny and pallid he was? How yellow and sickly his skin looked in comparison to her flawless, unfathomably dark complexion? If _he_ had a mirror next to him he knew he would vomit at the mere sight of himself: what prevented her from doing the same?

She silenced his racing mind slightly with a few nips upon his neck, her razor-sharp teeth pulled and pinched at his skin so much that he let out of a small gasp of pain and pleasure intertwined. His hands which had previously been fondling her extraordinary rear-end – thanks to years of arduous exercise up and down the Astronomy tower, no doubt – snaked upward to caress the breasts that he had so solely missed… and the only breasts he had ever come into contact with, really…

Aurora threw her head back and smirked in enjoyment as she wriggled upward to allow his tongue to swirl around her shadowy areolas teasingly. Severus maintained his eye-contact her with during the entire ordeal… gauging in a very scientific fashion whether what he was doing was producing the desired effects: and apparently it was, thank god. Her dreadlocks, awash with West African charms and trinkets, had since tumbled down from its wrapped position at the top of her head and various strands were now shadowing them both from sight. Some whipped against the small of her back slightly when his teeth had closed shut upon the black nipple and she had thrown herself backward so much that he had to sit himself up in order to maintain contact with her.

"Ugh…" she moaned and her hips began to rock against his. "Severus…"

The rocking and the sight of her and the sound of his name were becoming too much. If she wanted it quickly, she'd better start right now he thought.

If he hadn't been so obvious with his shaking and his clenched fists, he would have concluded that she had been inside his mind when she slipped off her underwear and slid down upon him… but no… it was painfully obvious that she was not going to get a half-hour out of him tonight. It had been far too long. Every nerve in his body had ached for her contact since the previous year. Cursed male anatomy… why couldn't it let him enjoy the act for just a few moments longer?

Of course there were spells – but he had never been at all keen on pointing on his wand down there and muttering incantations…

Aurora soon gauged, in her customary deductive manner, that she would get far more out of Severus if she was not the one on top and getting carried away with the sensation of him inside her. Best to leave it to him to control the timing. Severus spent several blissful, heavenly moments with his eager mouth between her legs – the tip of it flicking her, teasing her swollen nub until she groaned in agonizing protest before allowing her satisfaction. He knew he was nowhere near the realm of her sexual competence… but they had been doing this for quite a long time… and if there was one thing he knew, it was the way he should move, should think, should stroke and lick, to send her mad with spasms and muffled shouts. If there was one thing he was: it was efficient.

"Oh, fuck," Aurora moaned, one leg draped over the back of her leather couch, damp with their mixed sweat; one leg resting upon the coffee table. Her hips rocked up and down with his tongue right along with it.

Oh, fuck, indeed. Oh, fuck, how he had missed this. What possessed him to ever think he could ever keep away from her and her scent? How could he _possibly_ ever leave her again? No… no… don't think about that. Don't ever think about it. Listen to her moans right now, right this instant. Listen to the ecstasy she's swimming in. _Listen to her_. _Remember her like this_.

"Fuck, Severus… _Severus_ …" Aurora continued moaning into the cosmos as her back arched into his greedy mouth, her tongue hung on the 's' for so long that moaning his name turned into a hiss and it set his prick alight with arousal. "I've missed this… I've missed…"

The encounter ended in her bed, it normally always ended in one their respective beds. They felt safer, far less exposed, in their havens of privacy; especially in dark, dangerous times such as these. Being wrapped around one another for just a few brief moments before life and work and the war started up again, before they began to quip and bicker and tease again… it was his very definition of pleasure. Pleasure he so scarcely allowed himself.

It had taken every ounce of Occlumency talent to block the feelings and sensations that would send him tumbling far too quickly over the edge the moment he found himself inside her. Even then Severus had only managed an embarrassingly small amount of weighty thrusts before his eyes began to roll, and he began to feel the familiar lightning ignite and spark between his thighs, spreading through his balls, to the very end of his prick and upward into his entire body.

All he managed to croak was his usual quiet but eager warning of " _Aurora, I'm_ …" before everything had come to an abrupt end.

He normally dressed himself immediately after such encounters, but of course this time he had been a colossal idiot who had stumbled into her quarters an emotional wreck of man – and had subsequently forgotten all sleeping apparel. Severus did not like to be naked for longer than absolutely necessary: showering and a five-minute fuck here and there was probably his limit. Such an assertion was quite the understatement… he felt far too dangerously exposed and vulnerable for his liking.

"Stop wriggling around would you?" Aurora tutted from her position upon his distressingly bare chest. "You're normally out like a light afterward."

"I don't like not wearing my nightgown," explained Severus.

He felt her shift slightly and wrap her arms tighter around his torso.

"Well, _I_ like you sans nightgown."

"Well, you are mentally ill."

He heard a muffled chuckle in the darkness, now void of candlelight. The noise eventually died down… yet Severus was left staring straight up at the unseeable ceiling, unable to relax despite their previous activities.

"I mean what if anything happens?" he started up again. "What if Dumbledore requires me?"

"I'd rather not talk about the old prune if it's all the same to you. Besides, you can always tumble through his fireplace dressed in one of my finest satin dressing gowns – black or silver. They'd suit you, actually."

"Please, my sides already hurt too much from your hilarity," Snape quipped sarcastically.

They lay together in silence for a while. After a few moments Severus's muscle tension began to ease under the comforting sounds of the Astronomy professors soft breathing. Her own bare chest sporadically brushed against his ribs with every inhalation.

"Thank you for coming back, Gitface," Aurora whispered. He could tell she was half-asleep by now. "I missed this more than I could admit to myself."

Severus gave quite the unflattering snort before masking it with his reply.

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you."

He felt a couple of fingernails trace his abdomen, making him shiver and recoil from the sensitivity – but also squirm in a kind of tactile pleasure that he was usually not accustomed to. Pleasure for pleasures sake. It was not a philosophy Snape wholly subscribed to all in all. But slowly and surely, Aurora had been opening up his body… or at least opening him up to appreciate his body as a vessel for the acts of giving and receiving pleasure, and not merely a closed-in, armored vessel fit only for the lines of duty and work.

"I think some of the pleasure was mine," Aurora replied. "I usually demand at least half of all pleasure given."

Severus allowed himself a transitory smile considering no one would be able to see it. He brushed his lips against whatever he could get of her – her hairline in this instance – and he kissed it.

"And if you disappear out of this room tonight to fulfil whatever ridiculous duty the Headmaster required of you," Sinistra continued ominously. "You are never allowed to see me naked again, you understand?"

The smile turned into a curl of the lip.

"Well, we mustn't have that…" Snape drawled as he felt himself fall deeper and deeper into a rare, comforting slumber. He pulled the fierce, maddening, beautiful witch in closer as his eyelids fell.

 _To hell with Dumbledore._

 _To hell with all of them._


	7. Burning Flesh

**7.**

She had gotten up unnaturally early the next morning. But what was unnatural for her was certainly the opposite for a professor whose life did not revolve around the dead of night.

Aurora stumbled into her living room still dressed in her nightgown and rubbing her eyes, her already unmanageable hair sticking up at various angles.

"What a sight," came a derisive voice from her tiny kitchen area. "Professor Sinistra up before midday, and on a weekend. Did the bed catch alight in there?"

Aurora shot Severus a rude gesture before collapsing in a heap upon her couch.

"Found your trousers then?" she wisecracked.

"No thanks to you."

"I'm up because I have to see Aion; definitely not because I want to spend more time with you – rest assured."

Severus was leaning against the sink, fully robed and looking far more ready to tackle the morning. He swirled a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

"Ah, the proverbial gallant, intrepid brother," he nodded. "You wouldn't mind if I skipped the tearful goodbyes, would you? I am not fond of my nose but I still prefer it in one piece."

"I don't use the word 'goodbye' anymore."

Severus made a small noise of cynical disappointment as he took a long sip.

"That is a shame. You'll give him my most affectionate regards I'm sure," he said, and motioned to the kettle; Sinistra nodded and he began to busy himself with another mug and crushed coffee beans.

"What are your plans today?" Aurora queried after a while, not sure she wanted to hear the answer or not. Often, she much preferred his usual retort of _'secret business, I'm afraid'_ … it planted less horrific images in her mind if she could make it up herself.

He waited for the kettle's noises to die down before answering, he added it to the mug with just as much precision and meticulousness as he would with one of his potions.

"Meeting Lucius Malfoy this morning," he explained with his back to her. Aurora let out an inner sigh of relief… that wouldn't be so horrific, surely.

"And will you be showing your face here this evening?"

Severus paused ever so slightly in the middle of one his steps to the milk.

"… I would say not, no."

"Is there any point in my asking _why_?" she asked, her head unconsciously dropping. "Or can I just pretend you're attending weekly pottery lessons again?"

She felt the small bit of couch left next to her shrink slightly, and she lifted her head to see his face, contorted with what looked like a cross between concern and bemusement, above her. She sat herself up as he handed her her own mug, drawing in the scents of the Robusta - the scents of home.

"It might be best if you went with the pottery imageries," Severus said, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, shifting uncomfortably.

Aurora clenched her eyes shut as she drank from the rim of her mug – the dominant notes of the espresso hit her tongue immediately. She reveled in it. He knew exactly how make her kind of coffee… never much milk, a touch of water, no sugar, and as much caffeine as humanly possible. Images of masks, and flames, and Cruciatus curses shot through her head. The sounds of his screaming had returned and not even her Occlumency could keep them all at bay. She felt one of his thumbs sweep the side of her face delicately.

"Don't…" Severus whispered. "It is not worth your dwelling."

" _Not worth my dwelling_ ," Aurora replied bitterly. "You're such a fucking idiot."

She rolled her eyes as she felt his thin lips, warmed from the morning wake-me-up, brush against her neck.

"You can lick me all you want but I am not putting this coffee down," Sinistra protested hotly. "You're not the only one with a lot of shit on their plate today."

And so, about half an hour after Severus, Aurora appeared from her quarters – fully dressed in black robes and emerald cloak today. _Two times in a twenty-four-hour period_ , she thought as she swept her wand over the locks. _He must be in trouble tonight…_

Giving her customary visual sweep up and down the corridor for any student or faculty member, she sighed, pocketed the wand in her thigh pocket and marched toward the Great Hall using her left hand as a shield over her eyes - the unfamiliar glare of the morning sunlight made her entire face ache.

* * *

British food was unbearably stodgy. Aion Sinistra pushed away the quarter-eaten plate of bacon, eggs and a couple of what he presumed were sausages. He had been here only one night and he missed the Ugandan cuisine… his morning matoke (a meal consisting of nothing but mashed plantains – and that was all he needed) and _proper_ coffee, not this Scottish piss water.

The students were obviously used to unfamiliar faces at this stage. Aurors patrolled the boundaries of the school, after all, and presumably took a lot of their meals here. Not one of the teenagers was shooting him a questioning stare. Maybe he was not so different to the Aurors after all, Aion thought with a grimace, he _was_ on Order business after all.

He was still in mid-thought when he felt someone drop, _plonk_ , right into the seat next to him, making him almost jump right out of his seat.

"Great Creator, balimamuso! Still sneaking up on people, I see!" Aion spluttered in their Bambara tongue.

"Hiding from two much older brothers my whole childhood has cursed me with that ability," his sister smirked, replying in the same language. She looked far more at home here than he; almost lounging on the chair beside like some unperturbed, cool feline. One of what assumed was one of the professors, a witch very similar in age to Aurora, crossed the High Table above them and momentarily squeezed one of his sister's shoulders before moving on to her own place.

"That's Lho – Professor Lhoridi – Ancient Runes," Aurora explained casually as a plate of the same stodgy, turgid cuisine appeared on the table before her.

"Right," Aion mused, his gaze following the hem of the Ancient Runes professor's black robes as she settled herself down in the very corner of the High Table. "They must all be like family, considering how long you live here every year."

"I enjoy some more than others…" Aurora muttered darkly, scraping her fork meditatively across one side of the greasy bacon. "The Divination "professor" -" (she made highly sarcastic quotation mark gestures mid-air) " – is someone I wouldn't mind hurling off my tower, for example. But Lho and I have been the best of friends for years. It was difficult to find someone like… like _me_ … when I first started teaching."

"British wizards," Aion shrugged. "Very set in their ways. Think all magic is best served when it is highly controlled and regulated."

"Exactly."

She ate in silence for a while and Aion went back to his thoughts. He wondered how Naki was getting on back at Uagadou, whether they had found any more evidence of the Death Eaters advancing their borders… thoughts of Death Eaters quickly transformed into thoughts of one _particular_ Death Eater, and his mood suddenly darkened. How could his sister even fathom having… relations… with that man? She had never held a particularly clean track record when it came to her romantic involvement with wizards, and it seemed her judgement was being clouded darker and darker as the years went on.

 _What could she possibly see in this – this Severus Snape? A man whose sole job it was to lie and be clouded in deceptive mystery? How did it not even remotely concern her?!_

"I told you to drop it, balima," Aurora suddenly piped up, her tone much darker, and once again he had jumped out of his skin. He felt suddenly torn between wanting to verbalise what he had just been thinking, or to chastise her for apprehending that he had been thinking it in the first place.

He plumped for the latter.

"I know you're a super fancy Legilimens and all, Rora," he snapped. "But you know how much I hate you reading my mind, so stop it!"

"I can't 'read your mind', Aion, Legilimency isn't about 'reading minds'…" Aurora corrected infuriatingly coolly. "I sense vague thoughts. You're angry. I felt it. And I don't need any form of cerebral magic to understand _why_ you are still angry with me."

"I'm not angry with _you_."

"You are angry that you can't make my decisions for me anymore; that is just as bad!"

"Well, sorry for not jumping about in celebration of your consorting with Death Eaters!"

" _Shut-up, Aion_ " Aurora spat so viciously under her breath that several of her colleagues were now looking up at them from their breakfasts. The only one who appeared entirely unperturbed was the Ancient Runes professor she had previously introduced to him.

After shooting an adequate amount of death stares toward her fellow, rightfully intrigued teachers, his sister took a momentous deep breath and surreptitiously brushed down her cloak.

"You haven't seen me, talked to me, for more than a year…" she casually reminded him. "Don't come back here presuming you know _anything_ about my personal life."

" _He_ knows a little bit too much about your personal life!"

"He _is_ my personal life! They're not separate entities!"

"Well they should be. What steadfast reason do you have to trust anything he says to you?"

"There are no steadfast reasons."

"Then why – _why_ -"

" _Because that is what you do when you love someone!_ And I am done with this avenue of conversation with you for the next thirty years! Can I help you with something, Filius?!"

There was a clambering of metal plates and cutlery as the wizard propped up on several cushions a few spaces away from them hastily attempted to return staring into his porridge. Aurora continued to stare him down, her chest rising and falling as if it were about to explode out of her, until he was well over halfway through his meal.

It was almost comical. Almost reminded Aion of the childhood quarrels they had throughout their very short childhood. After a few more minutes of silence, he thought he'd better begin to clear the air with her… assure her that he was finished with aggravating her any further… but they were swiftly interrupted by the very same elder witch he had seen last night coming through the side door to the hall.

"Oh, Aurora, I'm glad to see you" the witch he knew as McGonagall said, she sighed heartily. "Sorry for interrupting your breakfast, but I need to see you in my office straightaway. You too, Mr. Sinistra."

And so they had made their way silently back to her office, McGonagall just a few steps ahead of the other two. The chilliness between brother and sister had certainly not yet diminished, but it had certainly lessened amongst the curiously of what was awaiting them both in the Transfiguration office.

"Come in," she motioned as they got to the door. Aion stepped in and immediately noticed the similarities between this office and his sisters. Complex patterns and diagrams spread themselves all over the walls and it was dimly lit with low-hanging lamps… only McGonagall's paperwork was extreme neat and orderly, compared to balimamuso's bombsite all over her desk and her floors.

"This arrived today," McGonagall explained immediately as she walked behind her own desk, where she held up the only piece of parchment laying there and handed it to Aurora. The envelop lay abandoned next to it.

"I daresay the Headmaster was intrigued by the disturbance you happened upon," McGonagall said to Aion as Aurora's eyes continued to skit across the one page letter. "I received this owl from him this very morning."

"What did he say?" Aion asked, eyes still fixed concernedly upon his sister though querying to no-one in particular.

McGonagall opened her mouth to answer, but Aurora got there first.

"He wants you to go back to Uganda immediately," she said softly, her eyes no longer moving across the page but he got the inkling that she was trying desperately to avoid his eyes.

Aion shrugged. "Fine by me. Was on the verge of freezing to death here, anyway."

Aurora looked up, but it was McGonagall she had looked toward – in an almost pleading fashion… reaching out for some advice from the older witch.

"Dumbledore wants me to go as well," she half stated, half asked the witch.

" _What_?" Aion demanded suddenly. "Why? There's no - "

"There was not much that could be explained on paper," McGonagall told them both as gently as she could. "But he seems to believe that you would be of more assistance to your brother than you would be at the school. Only until this masked intruder business is sorted out."

"Dumbledore just wants her to _leave_?" Aion snapped. "Give up her job for goodness knows how many months, just to go gallivanting around the forests surrounding Uagadou? How - "

 _Preposterous_ was what he was going to say, but the unnerving smirk on his sister's face alarmed him so much that he was at a loss.

"It's fine," she said calmly, and crushed the parchment swiftly between her hands and tossed into McGonagall's crackling fireplace. "If it's Dumbledore's wish to get me out of the castle -"

"I don't think that was the Headmaster's – he does intend on your coming back, I'm sure - "

Aurora waved McGonagall's protests away.

"It really is fine," she assured the both of them. "It'd be nice to get out of this big stone freezer for once in my lifetime. Besides, I am well overdue for a trip back home and if you even _think_ of coming out with something along the lines of 'what on earth can SHE contribute to the war?' I will smack that dubious expression right off your face."

Aion's flustered expression dropped submissively when faced with the forceful tip of Aurora's finger between his eyes.

"Come on, I wasn't going to say – you know I don't – anyway, Naki is probably expecting me, I'll see you there soon balimamuso."

He gave his sister a swift, remorseful kiss on the cheek as she, almost subconsciously, pressed her wand to the Adinkra sigil burned into her sternum. Her brows furrowed and her expression cringed as the eye began to glow a vivid, brilliant deep blue.

"The pathway's open," she said through clenched teeth. "I'll get some of my things and meet you at Uagadou in an hour."

As soon as their eyes locked upon one another, the same thought appeared to have struck them. Aurora looked down at the swirling, cobalt universe on her chest and said:

"The portal…"

"Yes," McGonagall said, nodding as if she had been expecting this query all along. "It will be watched in your absence."

"Gisemba and I are the only ones with the sigils. No one else will know if they are infiltrated..."

"I'm sure Headmistress Gisemba will be keeping a tight watch upon the Uagadou door."

"And who is keeping tight watch upon the Hogwarts door, Minerva?" Aurora retorted immediately. "Is Dumbledore doing to be pacing about my office every evening? Fretting every moment, every _second_ , that international war has broken out on the other end? Is he willing to burn anything into _his_ skin to protect those he loves?"

The fierce gazes between the two immovable witches almost made Aion cringe with discomfort. He coughed underneath his breath.

"I'll… be heading to your office then…" he quietly informed his sister as he very keenly bowed himself out of the room. Neither of them showed him even the slightest amount of acknowledgement.


End file.
